TENNIS/Wimbledon: Virginia Wade shuffled up the boulevard between the press centre and the back of Centre Court, head down into the draft that blows between the buildings writes Johnny Watterson  at Wimbledon

On court Tim Henman was down two sets and a break in the third to Mario Ancic.

Wade may have been hurrying to a television studio but peering at her, lost in thought and fleeing from the most famous tennis stadium in the world, the image was irresistible - Henman was on his way out of 2004 Wimbledon. And so it was as the fifth seed buckled under the weight of the unseeded Croat, who is nine years his junior.

Finally, Henman met a kid on his game, as he would in a Wimbledon quarter-final. "Super Mario", as the red tops will call Ancic today, or, perhaps "Son of Goran". But Ancic, whether he wins the competition this year or not, is a better all-round player than the man he looks up to, Ivanisevic. Unavoidable, too, is the irony that it is another Croat, a disciple of Ivanisevic, who arrives three years later to ensure Henman remains the lost soul of the tennis world.

Today's story should be all about the 20-year-old with lethal speed around the court and an array of serve and volley talents but Henman's shadow has asphyxiated this competition for the first 10 days.

Finally, now it can breathe. Henman made it as far as his game could take him. No shocks, no autopsies of his career required. This has all been taken care of even before Pete Sampras's old coach Paul Anacone came along and asked us to re-adjust our normal critical faculties.

Henman simply came up short once again just at the time when he had to raise his level. He rose to Australia's Mark Philippoussis in the fourth round, but yesterday, as Ancic offered the challenge, there was nothing but a void. Even Henman knows the law is of diminishing returns.

"Yeah, I think it gets worse (each year) actually. That's the honest answer," he said afterwards.

His legacy may be of a number of things, of eight quarter-final appearances, but also that if there is an ambush waiting to happen on Centre Court, he will be the fall guy. There will always be an Ancic quietly making his way through the draw without fanfare, ready to stop the train.

"There is no question that the better player on the day won," said Henman, typically candid but with weary acceptance. "I felt he was not only putting me under pressure with his serve but, you know, he started to return with much more consistency. That adds a even greater amount of pressure to my game."

When asked whether he lost the match or Ancic won it Henman was unequivocal. "He won it. That's what I believe."

Ancic found his narrative for the contest after the seesaw of a tie-break in the first set, giving him a well-earned cushion going into the second. Expectations were that the less experienced player would tighten and lose the plot. Instead, Ancic raised his level further and in a cluster of service breaks in the fifth, sixth and seventh games of the second set, it was he who once more scored on the big points, the 6-4 second set well received even around the silenced Henman Hill.

The third chapter of the match was a seamless continuation of the second, Ancic seeing the ball early on the Briton's serve, Henman finding the court narrow and the athletic young man at the net almost impossible to pass. The crowd muted, Ancic went for the kill and a straight sets win, his 5-2 lead finishing off any flickering hopes of a fightback.

Afterwards, he was asked about Goran's influence. In all of the conversations he had with the 2001 winner was there any simple thing he said, any advice he imparted? "Well, I mean," said Ancic. "He said when I was 12, 'you know, keep on breaking racquets'." Some free advice for Henman too.

Andy Roddick forced his way through to meet Ancic in what will be a semi-final clash of styles; Roddick straddling the back court, Ancic claiming the net if he can.

The 21-year-old American defeated Holland's Sjeng Schalken 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (11-9), 6-3 in just over two hours in a rain-delayed match that required two tie-breaks to decide the first two sets, Roddick then finding his range with a 6-3 third-set decider.

It is the American's second semi-final in succession at Wimbledon and this year he has yet to drop a set in the five matches played so far.

"I had my chances," said Schalken. "Today was very even in the tie-breaker. I was on top every time we were in the rally but he handles the pressure so good. His serve is very big and very solid."

Roger Federer, last year's champion, also advanced, his rain-delayed match against Australian Lleyton Hewitt ending in four sets 6-1, 6-7 (1-7), 6-0, 6-4. Most of all, what we saw was Federer's breathtaking ability against a world class player on form.

The first and the third sets were processional demonstrations by the Swiss player and markers for his semi-final opponent Sebastein Grosjean.

The 10th-seeded Frenchman beat off the challenge of unseeded German Florian Mayer in straight sets, 7-5, 6-4, 6-2.

The light at Wimbledon was beginning to dim when Grosjean took up another rain-delayed match.